Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Whew!!!!!!!!!!

Can anyone relate the following image to their day to day activities?

whirl·wind
/ˈ(h)wərlˌwind/
noun
  1. a column of air moving rapidly around and around in a cylindrical or funnel shape.
    synonyms:tornadohurricanetyphooncyclonetropical storm, tropical cyclone, vortexMore

    • used in similes and metaphors to describe a very energetic or tumultuous person or process.

      "a whirlwind of activity"
      synonyms:rapidlightningovernightinstantheadlongimpulsivebreakneckwhistle-stop, fast-track, accelerated, meteoricsuddenswiftfastquickspeedy;

WHEW!!!!!
Yep......that's pretty much my life anymore.
In particular, the second definition.
Not that I am complaining.......just keeping it real here folks!

Here is my life in photos for the month of March!


Lecturing and teaching is always a joy!
Here I am sharing my latest and first professionally
produced pattern, "Goodnight, Darlene!" with the
Quincy Quilt Guild.
"Goodnight, Darlene!" was beautifully custom quilted
by the quilt's namesake Darlene of

By the way......check out
my friend Jan of 
version of
"Goodnight, Darlene!"
Jan, again, thanks for your encouragement,
support, and enthusiasm over this pattern!



Margaret was my contact for this guild.
Thanks so much for the invite!

This guild was a hoot!
Such nice, talented quilters in this bunch!

I love seeing sisters, I mean a mother and daughter sewing 
together!  Keeping it in the family!
These gals were super sweet!

My friend Julie stopped in to see my trunk show!
Thanks for the nice visit Julie!

Vermont Street United Methodist Church
was the perfect host for this guild's event!

A delicious potluck of salads and desserts were
provided by the quilters.

And after lunch, the stars came out.....



Thanks to the Quincy, IL Quilt Guild for 
such a nice visit!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with you all!

I was also able to visit with the
Calico Needlers Quilt Guild in
St. Peters, MO.
I had ssuch a delightful visit, sharing fun
stories about my quilts with this guild!
Thanks Linda for the invite!

Thanks to all of you who commented on
my log cabin and recommended a name for it.
"Paw Paw's Closet"
This quilt finally has a name!

Speaking of Paw Paw.....

Lilly Mae was curious as to what her Paw Paw was playing here...
Is that, "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog?" you're playing?
But, I am a Boston Terrier Paw Paw!!!!!

I am pleased to share with you all that I finally completed
the "Foothills Quilt Along" organized by 
 I started this over a year ago!

Quirky.......YES!
I tried my best to follow the "mistakes"
and intricacies of the inspiration quilt
using what fabrics I had on hand.

I feel as though I did the best job I could in recreating
this work of art and I'm beyond pleased with it.
On the left are images of the original....
and my interpretation is on the right.
Off to be hand quilted now!

 It was time to harvest these beautiful
Royal Palm turkeys.
I did end up keeping 1 male and 3 females
for breeding stock.

I traveled to Versailles, Missouri to have the birds
processed where there is a
huge Amish and Mennonite community.
The Mennonite Family that owns and runs
Shady Maple Farm could not have been nicer.
They did a wonderful job processing the turkeys for me.
I am happy to report this breed of bird is nothing like a
broad breasted turkey you get at the grocery store, but, 
is surprisingly succulent and delicious!

Next up on the growing calendar........Cornish Cross Broilers.
Please understand, I understand not everyone is able to grow 
their own food.  And, many of you are 
probably not even interested.  But, for those of you who are, 
I share this because it is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do.
Now that I have the Quilt Cave, I am able to, and will continue to
provide myself and my family
 with food that I know was granted a healthy and good life.

I was able to fit a sew day in with one of my most favorite
quilters!  
Meet Tea of TEAQUILTS.
Truth be told....we are so much alike when it comes
to scrap quilting.
Check out her Youtube channel HERE
where she is always showing interesting quilty things.
Also, be looking in the future
 for a studio tour of the
Quilt Cave she recently shot!
I am so excited to be able to share this with you all
through her!

My version of Bonnie Hunter's 
2017 Quiltville Mystery "On Ringo Lake"
was recently given to my friend Mike and his family.

Mike has been a buddy of mine.....well....
since forever......and he and his family
love quilts.

Especially this girl!
Mike sent me this photo of his youngest daughter
with the quilt!
I am told she has taken this one for herself!
It's really nice knowing a quilt is being used
and appreciated, isn't it?!

I hope to meet YOU at one of these
UPCOMING EVENTS!

March 30, 2019
Friends in Stitches Quilt Guild
Waterloo, IL
Rescheduled
String Star Workshop

April 2, 2019
Dixie Lee Quilters
7 PM Lecture/Trunk Show
Madison County Senior Center
107 Spruce Street
Fredericktown, MO 63645
(THIS IS MY HOMETOWN!)

May 16, 2019
7PM Lecture/Trunk Show
Zion Lutheran Church
11007 Book Road
Naperville, IL  60564

May 17, 2019
9AM-4PM
Crazy Crumb Stars Workshop
Zion Lutheran Church
11007 Book Road
Naperville, IL  60564

May 18, 2019
Wego Quiltin' Quilt Guild
9AM-4PM
String Star Workshop
Oswego Presbyterian Church
1976 IL 25
Oswego, IL  60543





Thanks for all of the encouragement!
Thanks for being a friend!
Keep on Quilting!
Kevin the Quilter







21 comments:

  1. Your Foothills quilt is AWESOME!! You nailed the faithful reproduction part...except for the block dead center...your background stripes just refused to go crosswise ;-) It is seriously wonderful and I can see why you want to have it hand quilted.

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  2. All the quilts are awesome and exciting! You do scrappy proud. Yes, life is a whirlwind. We just emptied out three rooms to have the floors refinished and omigosh the amount of work and boxes. I tried to pitch/recycle what I could. All the while packing for quilt retreat coming up tomorrow till Sunday. I will be out of the house sewing away while it is supremely stinky at home. And then we have to paint. And I need desperately to get the long arm fired up. Whirlwind is about right. Glad you can grow some of your own food. I am close to farmers' markets, so I let them do it for me as I live a block from the city line. I do grow flowers.

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  3. Your quilts are wonderful! My favorite is Paw Paw's quilt. I don't raise turkeys but I do raise our own meat bird chickens and our own beef. I'm glad to see you've got more events coming up. Happy Stitching!

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  4. Thanks for the kind words for our Quincy quilt guild. Everyone had a great day!!

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  5. Gorgeous quilts!!! It is really nice to be able to grow your own food...you know what has gone into (or on, for fruits and vegetables). We've had a few steers and pigs, which were fun to have and fill the freezers nicely. Love your turkeys, chickens and now you are getting Cornish Game Hens!!! Paw Paw's Closet is such a special quilt...you did good!!!

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  6. Omg i saw a pic of your log cabin somewhere on the world wide web and saved it for inspiration coz I loved it so much and who knew it was your creation, good work. Is your Goodnight Darlene pattern available for sale? I cant wait to see around my namesake the "quilt cave" lol.

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  7. kevin, my dear friend. I am so glad to know you.
    I live all the way out here in the far western reaches of Northern Virginia and even though it is beautiful here 39 miles west of the cesspool our President is so valiantly trying to drain, ... I am in awe of the wonderful gatherings, parties and explosions of creativity all of you are able to contrive. Your sewing parties are so tempting.
    I love that you are enjoying your dream to grow and process your own food.
    Thank you for sharing this wonderful blog update, I thoroughly enjoyed it

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    Replies
    1. Oh and I love the picture of your paw paw and Lily Mae

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  8. Congrats on the Foothills quilt! That is a labor of love!!
    So many wonderful things going on in your world. I know you take time to enjoy each minute!!

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  9. My life feels like a whirlwind even when I am sitting still! I don't know where the first three months of this year have gone. I wish I lived where I could grow my own food. I am glad you are able to do it. I really detest conglomerate farming. Ruins the land.

    The picture of Lily Mae listening to her Paw Paw play reminds me of the only cat I ever had that liked to hear me play the my violin. She would always come and jump into my empty violin case and listen to me play. I always had to make sure I took both bows out of the case as she liked to play with the bow hair.

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  10. Whirlwind is right. I'm exhausted just reading about all your adventures. I know I keep saying it, but I do hope to attend one of your lectures one day. Congratulations on a great turkey production. It is wonderful when you can raise your own meat and poultry. There are just too many chemicals being pumped into our foods these days! Keep up the good work!

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  11. Now my thoughts are a whirlwind as I try to remember the things I was going to say in my comment--so much in this post!
    I'll narrow it down to these two things, though so much more could be said: Paw Paw's Closet is a great name for a wonderful quilt, and I absolutely love the deep blues in your "On Ringo Lake"!

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  12. Sounds like your a scrappy tornado having a bunch of fun.

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  13. Loved today's show and tell - great scrappy quilts, people having fun, Paw Paw and Lily Mae dueting - good to see you having fun in your hectic whirl wind-life :)

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  14. Lots of great quilts you've been working on. My grandfather raised beef cows. Whenever I see a cow, I get hungry. I haven't been lucky enough to have fresh poultry (just your fresh eggs).

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  15. I live in Tornado Alley, so you can be sure I understand!

    Enjoyed your post. Turkey--yum!

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  16. Your Ringo Lake is amazing! So happy it found a wonderful home!
    You are a busy person for sure! Wonderful you had a sewing day with Tea! Hope I get to see the video!

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  17. you ARE certainly a busy guy!! Love it...
    I've never had a "fresh" turkey but it sounds yummy. I think it's great you're "living off the land"!!
    BRAVO to you. Not easy...

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  18. I love your quilts. The new string quilt is wonderful. I am working on Bonnie Hunter's Serpentine Web from String Frenzy and thought that would use up my strings. Hahaha no way. They seem to be multiplying instead even though I am not adding to them. When I am done I am going to sort them by color and try your new pattern.

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  19. Kevin, your quilts are always gorgeous. Paw Paw's Closet, Foothills quilt-along, and your Ringo Lake are eye candy, each one. Plus, I really, really want to make a Goodnight, Darlene!

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